Slither.io Game Guide: eat your way to the top!

Slither.io started off as a fun and friendly web browser game that made bored office workers happy for as long as they could sneak some play in. By the time it made it to iOS, it was a phenomenon of epic proportions.

The goal of Slither.io is to become the biggest worm of the day by eating the pixelated remains of your opponents. The player that breaks the record of the day for the longest snake gets to leave a message on the screen that everyone in the entire world playing the game has to see.

It is not easy to get to the top of the ranks, but with a few tips from us, you might be on your way to becoming the biggest worm on the playground.

Make 'em explode: Use those boosts!

The goal is to be the biggest worm. Knocking off the largest opponents means you are that much closer to growing in rank to the top spot.

To kill another player, you'll have to get them to run into your body. Keep your head protected - if you run into another snake, you're dead.

The best way to crush the enemy is to cut them off like an angry driver on the freeway. Position yourself close to another worm's head, running parallel to it. Then, hit the boost to get ahead of it and make a sharp turn to cut it off, causing it to crash into you.

Using a boost is slightly complex, but once you get used to it, you'll be the king of the speed bump: Double-tap and then hold down the screen while you move fast. Let go of the screen to stop boosting.

The problem with the boost is that it causes you to drop some of your length, leaving behind a pixelated trail of your body. Boosts are necessary to take down opponents, but use them wisely or you'll never get ahead.

Eat all the leftovers

A growing worm needs to eat. That's how you get bigger in Slither.io. As you slither around the playing field, cross over any glowing dot. Much of the spritely flotsam lying around are the result of a recently destroyed worm. So, get ready to dig into the leftovers like you are at a hot dog eating contest.

When a larger worm dies, it creates a bit of a feeding frenzy. You can grow significantly from eating leftovers, but being in the danger zone could get you killed. Until you are more experienced with navigating the yard, I recommend waiting on the outskirts until the sharks have dispersed. You can make a decent meal out of the scraps.

Watch out for wicked worms

Just like you want to cut off your enemy to cause their untimely demise, they want to do the same to you. The smaller they are, the better they are at cutting you off before your time. You'll know when you are about to become a target. A nearby worm will suddenly be hot on your heals, likely boosting to catch up to you.

Unless you feel confident that you can out-skill the stalker, you might just want to make a run for it.

If you are ready to fight back, try turning in on yourself as your attacker approaches. You won't die if you run into yourself, so you can create a circle out of your own body. Your head is protected from outside attack, and if someone tries to infiltrate your safety circle, you will be more likely to win the battle.

Tips and tricks

You can eat the left-behind boost trails. When a worm boosts, it leaves behind a bit of itself in the form of eatable dots. You may not be able to destroy a giant worm, but you can follow along behind it, eating its boost poops.

The larger you get, the more of a target you become. If you're not sure what you're next move is, head toward the outer edges and keep away from where all of the action is while you collect your thoughts and come up with a plan of action.

Once you are super sized, you can trap smaller worms inside of your circle. Like trapping fish in a net, work your way around. If the unsuspecting worm doesn't realize it in time, it will not make it out of your protection ring.

The future of Slither.io on iOS

The development team behind Slither.io have been working hard to make the game fun and playable for everyone. Not only are they getting started on adding game content (like offline mode and ad removal options), but they are creating tools to help individuals address lag issues.

While they admit that some server-side issues have created latency problems with the game, it's not always the game's fault. It could be wi-fi issues, old modem or router problems, interference, or some other issue on your end. There are diagnostic tools in the works to help you pinpoint what, exactly, your issue is with the gameplay.

If your game is lagging, just put it down and come back later. From my experience, the latency issue isn't always there. It can clear up at any time.

The Slither.io team is also working on an update that brings joystick mode to iOS. There are a few more content updates coming our way, but the team is tightlipped about what's to come. Hopefully, we'll get access to skins on iOS.